Medical Should I take another Gap Year or Apply in 2021?

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi! I am a senior at College and is graduating in May 2021. I have a cGPA of 3.87 and sGPA of 3.69. As per the clinical hours, I have very minimal clinical hours (~150) for shadowing and volunteering. Right now, I am doing research at my college and I am going to attempt MCAT by April or May 2021. Since Covid has disturbed a lot of things, I am also doing the virtual shadowing, although I do not know if it would really count towards the needed hours.

Previously, I had this plan of taking a gap year after graduating next semester and applying in the cycle of 2021 but now I doubt if I should really go for it. I have contacted some doctors for clinical shadowing right now and I am also volunteering side by side. But I am still not sure if my stats are good enough to apply to the upcoming cycle. Can I get a suggestion about if I should take 2 gap years or if I should apply this upcoming cycle (2021) by continuing to get more hours of shadowing and volunteering side by side?

Thanks in advance.

Have you talked with current students and admissions staff at the schools you want to apply to? How much networking have you really done? A desirable application is more than just number of hours, grades, and test scores; you need to figure out what it is for each school you want to send money to for school-specific applications and ultimately earn interview invitations.

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[AlteredScale]

These are odd times. And we do not know if the COVID pandemic will be done in two years. Do what you can do get contact time in the clinical field (including shadowing). If your MCAT and general application is strong I say apply for the 2021 cycle. I think most medical schools are aware and understand that the ability to get clinical exp at this time is very difficult and will bring that into consideration on your applications.